Permission to use matchsticks?!

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Madge said:
I think it's perfectly feasible that the bees will decide when to cap the honey. The fact that it's ready to be capped might not be the only criterion.
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There are 3 criterions, when bees do not cap honey/syrup. According my 50 y experience

1. Too big water content

2. Cells are not full. Nectar flow stops and no capping . I extract 3 boxes and return them to the hive. Bees cannot forage any more 50 kg.

3. In Winter feeding. Feeding is too late. Even 80% may be uncapped over winter.

Bees know? Why they do not know when they should cap it? Do bees have deadlines?....imagination is a great part of happy beekeeping. Do not let it bee too simple.
 
studies of the detailed air, heat and moisture management of honeybees during honey ripening have eluded my researches.
There are a number of possible heat recovery strategies and mechanisms the bees might use. Sticking an extra hole at the top is dumping hard won energy and water that the bees could use in one of them.
 
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jenkinsbrynmair said:
You're the expert on talking that
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I have seen so many good nectar flows in my life that I need to imagine fairytales. And bees have capped every year the yield. I need not encourage them.

150 kg honey per hive does not come with rubbish thinking. It needs skills and brains to think, where you put hour hives. Honey comes from pastures. And lots of experience.

I just try to offer my experience, and what I get.... Mocking... Welsh jokes I can read from google.
 
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Keep it simple and let the bees get on with the job. They will cap it without any interference from the beekeeper. Some beekeepers simply try to interfere too much. OP is clearly not trying to let them bee hard enough.

Finman and others are quite right. Leave them alone to get the job done. They are 'farmed' for honey, not nectar. The bees know how to make honey; they have been doing it since long before humans inhabited this planet. Matchsticks under the crownboard are a waste of interference time.

Question: Is any of this product fermenting? No? Bees are clearly in control? The tools they need are clearly in place - brood and storage space. Let them bee!
 
derekm said:
studies of the detailed air, heat and moisture management of honeybees during honey ripening have eluded my researches.

There are a number of possible heat recovery strategies and mechanisms the bees might use. Sticking an extra hole at the top is dumping hard won energy and water that the bees could use in one of them.
Click to expand...

Yes but in a good flow the hive runs too hot. Evaporation of nectar keeps it cool. If it does not help, bees forage water. Part of bees stop working.

Like now in London forecast, 25C temps this week.
 
derekm said:
studies of the detailed air, heat and moisture management of honeybees during honey ripening have eluded my researches.
There are a number of possible heat recovery strategies and mechanisms the bees might use. Sticking an extra hole at the top is dumping hard won energy and water that the bees could use in one of them.
Click to expand...

Well now we're creating a religion, with Commandments: Thou shalt NEVER top ventilate. Moist air is light and it's a long way down to an OMF. As you say, we don't know.

RAB I'm trying to isolate lime.
 
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TryingToLetThemBee said:
Well now we're creating a religion, with Commandments: Thou shalt NEVER top ventilate. Moist air is light and it's a long way down to an OMF. As you say, we don't know.
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What!!!!!!

Have you seen how hundreds of bees move air with their wings.
And hive air is warm and rises up.

What about when I have not OMF?

You really have problems...
 
Finman said:
I have seen so many good nectar flows in my life that I need to imagine fairytales. And bees have capped every year the yield. I need not encourage them.
...
Click to expand...

oliver90owner said:
Keep it simple and let the bees get on with the job. They will cap it without any interference from the beekeeper. ...
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I can't see anybody suggesting interfering with the bees' honey-making. Where did this idea come from, Finman and O90O?

Neither can I see anybody being worried that the bees won't eventually cap their honey, Finman. I said, and I think JBM said, there might be reasons for the apparent delay in capping: they are busy, or they anticipate they may soon need it again to eat.
 
I can't see anybody suggesting interfering with the bees' honey-making.

I suggest you go back and read the starter on this thread. That is what it is all about. Unecessary interference with the bees' activities while collecting nectar and transforming it into honey. They don't need it! Giving them the space, to avoid swarming, is one thing - but trying to make them hurry up is another entirely.
 
oliver90owner said:
I can't see anybody suggesting interfering with the bees' honey-making.

I suggest you go back and read the starter on this thread. ...
Click to expand...

Asking if ventilation might help the bees is not 'interference'. And the answer was given long, long ago.
 
He did also take supers off his strongest colony resulting in a tower of boxes filled with nectar, which is the part I'm struggling to grasp.
 
TryingToLetThemBee said:
Well now we're creating a religion, with Commandments: Thou shalt NEVER top ventilate. Moist air is light and it's a long way down to an OMF. As you say, we don't know.

RAB I'm trying to isolate lime.
Click to expand...

I have tried to find a properly designed and recorded experiment that shows the benefits of top ventilation. So far I have found none.
The references I have found date to 1943 and 1948, they only say there is no difference, the experiental design is very poor, they contradict later building research and the results don't look right.
 
Swarm said:
He did also take supers off his strongest colony resulting in a tower of boxes filled with nectar, which is the part I'm struggling to grasp.
Click to expand...


Put empty ones on as needed. All I am trying to do is concentrate the lime flow.

ADD RAB you're being a little harsh; suggesting a slightly different ventilation pattern for peak flow v winter is hardly an aggressive manipulation. ENDADD
 
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but they also need empty supers (with drawn comb in) to shift the nectar around to ripen it - looks like you've given one unfortunate colony the workload of the whole apiary without the space and expect them to do it all by yesterday
 
derekm said:
I have tried to find a properly designed and recorded experiment that shows the benefits of top ventilation. So far I have found none.
The references I have found date to 1943 and 1948, they only say there is no difference, the experiental design is very poor, they contradict later building research and the results don't look right.
Click to expand...

If you keep bees, you will find out what very quickly what top ventilation does.
At leas in my hives it makes the hive too cold. Even if I keep in brood boxes upper holes open, I do not keep them in supers.

I look the need of ventilation from numbers of ventilating bees on landing board. ... Not from books. Research makes no sense in this issue.
 
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suggesting a slightly different ventilation pattern for peak flow v winter

The comparison was whether the bees were able, or not, to propolise the gaps.

Get real. The bees will propolise the crownboard to the box because they do not want, or need, matchsticks making small gaps under their ceiling. Either take off the honey uncapped or wait for the bees to cap it. Simple.
 
oliver90owner said:
.

Get real. The bees will propolise the crownboard to the box because they do not want, or need, matchsticks making small gaps under their ceiling. Either take off the honey uncapped or wait for the bees to cap it. Simple.
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So they do like Oliver says
 
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